


Episode #2: Ain't dead yet

by Lunedd, NatalieRyan



Series: Locker Room Series [2]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Hawaii Five-0 (2010), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Locker room meetings, M/M, background Bucky/Rumlow relationship, established McDanno relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-30
Updated: 2018-12-30
Packaged: 2019-09-30 18:18:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,895
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17228858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lunedd/pseuds/Lunedd, https://archiveofourown.org/users/NatalieRyan/pseuds/NatalieRyan
Summary: "Ah, you, too?" Danny grinned at Bucky, noticing the nickname."It's blatantly obvious he looks like Captain America. I'm thinking Chris Evans might be his long lost brother." Bucky shrugged.“Maybe you should be working with Marty then, seeing as Bucky is Captain America's best friend?”“Oh, we are doing this alright.” Bucky grinned. “Then I should just tell you outright that my name is James Barnes.”“Middle name Buchanan I suppose?”“Yup.”“You are shitting me.”“Nope. Totally serious.”Danny raised an eyebrow.“What can I say, Danny? My parents were both history and Marvel nerds.”Now it was Danny that laughed. “I bet they were. Glad to have met you, Bucky. Now I'll better get out of here before Captain America sicks the Avengers on me.""Good luck, Danny.""Thanks. I'll need it."





	Episode #2: Ain't dead yet

**Author's Note:**

> Back when I wrote what’s now part 1 of the “Locker Room Series” I never thought that it would grow into what it is today (part 2 now with future possibilities of new stories ahead, when the inspiration and muses meet).
> 
> It all started with the person that part 1 was intended for (let’s just say Lunedd loved her birthday gift that much that once I read her comment on my story she planted this seed of a possible second fic. And once I told her I read her comment and that I had the idea of a new story, we started exchanging ideas with each other about it). 
> 
> The part of the comment that started all of this was:  
> “Hah, to think this all started with this darn video and the talk afterwards (obscene little puff-puff, huh) - this was quite a trigger! And you put it into a story in such a lovely way - with such a sassy Danny, teasing his bf. Aaand!!! Cherry to the cake, to use the image of Chris as his personal trainer... I don‘t have to say what that did to me, right? And well, that SCREAMS for a spin-off featuring Chris uhhhhm Marty the PT getting Danny fit for Steve. *makes an innocent puppy face*”
> 
> To say that Lunedd can make innocent puppy face and you resist said face… well it never happened before. To resist it, I mean. 
> 
> Then she was asking me if we could co-author this fic and I was on board with it, so I said yes. With further discussion that took around 7 hours give or take we ended that day with a plan of a series, unknown number of fics, and we had one more character to introduce (which will happen in this fic). 
> 
> Nothing explicit in this fic, just new meetings, Marty’s gym again, and our boys Steve and Danny. I can’t tell what will happen in the next story as we still haven’t figured out what events will happen in which fic (but I can say that we are working on it and hoping that our muses and inspiration align with our schedules as we are both busy at times). 
> 
> We also hope that you will like this series and that you will come back for more once we post the next installments and that we can share with everyone this world we created and that we love very much. 
> 
> Love ya’ babe and I’m glad you are my partner in crime in this series and I’m yours. 
> 
> Beta by ialwayslikedthetie. Thank you for the amazing work as always, babe :**
> 
> Without further ado, I present you with part two of the LRS. Enjoy.

Danny just got into Marty's gym and headed straight for his locker. He almost bumped into the brunet that was pacing up and down between the lockers, measuring the length and width of the room with his steps. Danny was sure that if the man had put his long hair up in a ponytail, he would see smoke coming out of his ears. The guy stopped abruptly, and only then Danny saw the earplugs, connected with a wire ending in the man's pocket. _Probably on his phone,_ Danny thought.

"I've listened to you long enough, Brock!" 

A pause, and then more pacing.

"No! I have my PT scheduled in 20 minutes, I can't-" 

The man's eyes turned from distressed to a dangerous glare. " _I am at PT for fuck's sake_! I can't just get out of here and tend to you when you are perfectly capable of doing that yourself! I'm not your fucking maid, Rumlow!"

Danny tried to be quiet as he changed in one of his white t-shirts and grey shorts, while keeping an eye on the man that was clearly not happy with whoever was on the other end of the phone call.

"I am tired of arguing with you about this. Can you just please, _please_ tone it down. I'm getting a headache as it is. Don't need you yelling at me!"

Danny raised his eyebrows. By now he was ready to have a serious talk to whoever it was that made the man look like he wanted to crawl out of his skin.

"I'm being bold for raising my voice at you? How about you raising your voice at ME?! Just fuck off!"

The man tore out the headphones and reached for his pocket. Danny could barely produce a non-committing smile to his face when the phone call was disconnected before the man's eyes landed on him.

"Asshole." The brunet muttered and proceeded with what he was doing.

Danny kept his distance but he could clearly feel the frustration coming off in waves from his gym locker neighbor. He was fussing with the buttons of his shirt with his right hand, while his left arm was hanging limply next to his torso.

Danny put two and two together. The guy must be in PT for his arm. Marty's gym was one of the places that was recommended for PT with highest praise from their clients. The  hospitals were overcrowded with patients, and when they couldn't take any more people, they sent them to gyms all over the island that had physical therapists employed just for that purpose. Marty also made sure that he worked with the best therapists and with discount, because more often than not people that needed the help had enough costs with hospital stays and medicine.

The guy next to Danny still struggled with the buttons of his shirt. And very much looked like he was going to punch something. Or someone.

Now, Danny didn't want to be the guy's punching bag but he wasn't just gonna stand there and do nothing to help the man when he obviously needed it.

"You know, I was mad at the whole world when I first busted my knee as teenager. Played baseball. Shortstop. Twisted my knee so bad that I threw up right there on the field. In front of my teammates and the people on the stands."

The man lifted his head and a pair of blue grey eyes met Danny, a scowl on the guy's face.

"My name's Danny."

"Bucky," the man replied gruffly and took the proffered hand to shake it.

"Well now that I can stop referring to you as _the man_ in my head, nice to meet you, Bucky." Danny could see Bucky was starting to calm down and smirked to himself. It was working.

"Nice to meet you, too, Danny. How long have you been here?"

"Long enough to know that whoever you talked on the phone with is an asshole."

Bucky snorted but not in a funny way. His shoulders slumped and he looked resigned. "Yeah, Brock. My partner... he is a... he's just an asshole. You said it just like it is."

Danny nodded.

"So, what was the whole speech about your knee?"

Danny smiled. "Oh, that was just me reassuring you that things will get better. It hurts like a motherfucker and seems so hopeless, it feels like the end of the world when in fact it isn't."

"Oh. Thanks, I guess."

"Don't mention it. Let me help you with that?" Danny offered, gesturing to Bucky's shirt that he was still fighting with.

Bucky deflated visibly.

"Yeah. I'd appreciate that, Danny. Thank you."

"I'd recommend avoiding button downs, maybe go for bigger t-shirts. Something you can easily take off if the need arises."

Bucky smiled now and Danny counted that as a win as he tackled the few buttons Bucky couldn't do.

"Admit it. You just want to see me shirtless."

Danny laughed as he helped Bucky take the shirt completely off. The laugh died on his lips when he saw the state of Bucky's left arm. "Jesus..." His exclamation was met with a look of insecurity and discomfort.

"Who did this to you?" Danny found himself asking before he registered the words leaving his mouth.

"I... I was in an accident. It almost got torn off when I was thrown out of the car and ended up under it." 

"I'm so sorry to hear that." Danny was shocked. Something about the whole thing sounded familiar, but he couldn't put his finger on what exactly.

"You know, you are the first person that doesn't look disgusted,” Bucky said.

"I deal with far worse on daily basis to be put off by scars, Bucky. And I have some myself so..." Danny shrugged and placed Bucky's shirt on the hanger in his locker.

"You a doctor?"

"A cop. Detective Sergeant. I'm with Five 0."

Bucky nodded but said nothing. Danny noticed a change in Bucky, but didn't have time to say anything because Marty entered the locker room.

"Well hello there, Danny. I was looking for you."

"I was just gonna come out. Talking to Bucky here."

"Glad to see you making new friends, Buck." Marty smiled. "Danny here is a great guy."

"I can see that." Bucky smiled too.

Danny watched the interaction between the two and grinned to himself. The blush on Bucky's cheeks hadn't been there while they talked.

"This is Bucky's third session today. My buddy- You remember Howard, right?"

Danny groaned and covered his eyes with his hand. "Please don't remind me of that."

"Why? What happened with Howard?" Bucky asked, curious.

"That's a story for another day. I'll be sure to tell you everything about it," Marty grinned.

"No. Don't you dare open your mouth Martin!" Danny threatened.

"C'mon man, it was hilarious. Besides when I asked my supplier for a new locker I got a little fun time as I explained what happened to the handle and what the stains on it were..."

"Stop! No! I'm not listening!" Danny squeezed his eyes shut and covered his ears in an attempt to tune out what Marty was saying. The soft sound of laughter reached his ears and Danny turned to see Bucky laughing and wiping away tears of mirth. "You see what you did? Bucky is laughing about me."

Danny glared at Marty half-heartedly, kind of feeling that Marty knew the conversation he and Bucky were having prior to his arrival hadn't been exactly light. And Marty was much like himself, always wanting to fix a situation with laughter.

"You'll live, Williams. Now gear up. I'll be by the bikes. Don't be late. And Bucky, Howard will be here in about 5 minutes so up and at 'em."

"Yes, Captain."

Marty shook his head in amusement as he left the locker room.

"Ah, you, too?" Danny grinned at Bucky, noticing the nickname.

"It's blatantly obvious he looks like Captain America. I'm thinking Chris Evans might be his long lost brother." Bucky shrugged.

“Maybe you should be working with Marty then, seeing as Bucky is Captain America's best friend?”

“Oh, we are doing this alright.” Bucky grinned. “Then I should just tell you outright that my name is James Barnes.”

“Middle name Buchanan I suppose?”

“Yup.”

“You are shitting me.”

“Nope. Totally serious.”

Danny raised an eyebrow.

“What can I say, Danny? My parents were both history and Marvel nerds.”

Now it was Danny that laughed. “I bet they were. Glad to have met you, Bucky. Now I'll better get out of here before Captain America sicks the Avengers on me."

"Good luck, Danny."

"Thanks. I'll need it."

  
...

 

"James Barnes. I met him through a friend. Saw him a couple of times before. Never thought he'd end up in my gym for PT." Marty's previous light mood was replaced by a grim look on his face. "Guy is tough but from what I had a chance to talk with him about, he needs to work on his self esteem."

"That's why you were trying to make him laugh."

"Am I that obvious?"

Danny studied Marty's face for a moment, trying to discern if there was an undertone to what Marty just asked and figured that he'd have to investigate further. He was a detective, after all. "You do that every time one of your clients is feeling down."

"I'll have to hide my tells better," Marty joked.

Danny chuckled. "Relax. It's probably because of what I do for work, remember? I observe, deduce. I'm a cop."

"You're a little shit is what you are." Marty laughed out loud.

"Say, do you know someone named Brock, uh, Rumlow?" Danny queried, wanting to know more about what he'd witnessed in the locker room.

"Bucky's asshole partner. Unpleasant fella. Had to physically kick him out the first time Bucky came here."

"Sounds like a piece of work." Danny huffed.

"He is." Marty growled. "As long as Bucky is with him... let's just say his influence is not a good one for Bucky's psyche and his progress."

"I understand." And something set inside Danny that moment. He'll get to the center of the thing that was niggling at his mind.

 

...

 

An hour later all thoughts about Brock, Bucky and that strange feeling Danny had when Brock's name had been mentioned had been replaced with exhaustion and sweat which now ran freely over Danny's flushed face and made his tee cling wet against his body.

Marty had introduced him to a new series of exercises, and the last one was what really took it out of Danny. He had thought that he was fit after all those hours at Marty's, but whenever he believed nothing that Marty demanded of him would faze him his trainer just smiled that special smile with the evil glint in his blue eyes that made him look impish and irresistable. Then he would introduce another exercise that would make Danny think he had accidentally enrolled into the Navy SEALs BUD/S training instead of a gym.

"Come on, Danny — we said thirty seconds, right? You're at 20 right now, so you still got some more tucks to do for me."

Damn, if his muscles weren't burning so much and if he wasn't already taken, Danny would have jumped Marty's bones by the seductive tone of his voice. Danny was pretty sure he had never heard Marty use it with any of his other customers, but maybe Danny was hallucinating from the sheer exhaustion that now seemed to hold his body in a steel vice grip. He was tempted to look up, to pause, but knew better. Marty was a slave-driver when confronted and would coax Danny into another complete circuit if he dared to break the rounds before he was finished.

So Danny simply clenched his teeth and continued the push-up-to-knee-tucks. His feet were planted on two pads so that his shoes glided smoothly over the synthetic turf carpet when he pulled his knees forward. The muscles in his upper arms started to quiver, but Danny had fallen into that bone-crushing rhythm that would urge him on until either Marty called it a day or his arms would just give way underneath him. _Talk about New Jersey stubbornness,_ Danny thought grimly.

"Okay, that's it! Well, Danny, you never cease to amaze me." Marty's tone was praising, and filled with something bordering admiration. Danny slowly stood up and blinked at Marty, while his brain adjusted to the sudden stop of all physical movement. "Go and shower, and we will, uh, see us in three days again?"

Danny realized belatedly that Marty had asked a question when he softly started to laugh. "Oh, uh, yeah, uh, in three days…"

Danny trotted away to the shower rooms, followed by Marty's friendly chuckle. He grabbed his soap and a towel from his bag and wriggled out of his sweaty sportswear, chucking it next to the bag and walked over to the shower stalls. He was naked, but he wasn't a prude; he had never felt anything but comfortable and confident around other guys in a locker room.

The hot water that pummeled his shoulders and upper back felt like heaven, and Danny let out a long, drawn out and satisfied moan. He turned his head to the side and squinted through the downpouring water when he felt a presence next to him.

The guy from earlier in the locker room now stood nearby under a shower, his right hand put against the opposite wall, head hung low. Danny turned his head, so that the water didn't hit his eyes anymore, and took a closer look at the guy — Bucky, Danny remembered his name.

There were some nasty looking scars on his back, most of them close to and around his shoulder. Danny swallowed hard when he saw the fiery red and welted damaged skin and tried to imagine what kind of forces must have worked on Bucky's body to cause such a terrible injury.

"Seen enough?"

Bucky's rough voice tore Danny out of his musings and made him blush, embarrassed. "Sorry. I didn't want to be impolite-"

"S'okay. Should be used to that by now." Bucky turned off the shower and grabbed his towel, pulling it around his hips.

"No, it's not okay, that was — rude. I try to teach my kids not to stare and then I do it all the same." Danny had turned his shower off, too and stepped in front of Bucky. "Really, man. I'm sorry."

Bucky's eyes flickered over Danny, then settled on his face. It was obvious that he was unsure about Danny's honesty. "Yeah." He stepped around Danny and headed into the locker room, quickly donning fresh clothes.

Danny sighed and followed slower, towelling himself on the way to his locker. Bucky was already finished, taming his hair clumsily with one hand. Danny hesitated a moment, then turned away from Bucky. Helping him take off his shirt was one thing; fumbling along in his hair would definitely be a number too intimate. Plus what would Steve say when he came home smelling of another man's hair products?

"Thank you."

Bucky's voice startled Danny, and he looked up surprised. Bucky was standing in front of him, right hand outstretched. Danny grabbed it and shook it gently.

"If you, uh, if, uh, if you need to talk to someone someday, just — I'm here pretty regularly.” Danny shrugged.

Bucky seemed like a nice guy with a handful of problems, and had that "ha’ole" vibe Danny knew he had had too when he had come first to Hawaii. Someone helping him through that first six months of Hell? He would have given his right arm to have such a person.

"Thank you." Bucky carefully eased his hand out of Danny's grip and left the room.

 

…

 

"Hey."

Steve nudged Danny's shoulder gently. "Time to go to bed, huh? You can't even keep your eyes open anymore, babe."

After dinner they had started to watch a game, but the work-out and the full stomach had other plans with Danny, and so he had fallen asleep halfway through the game, comfortably leaned against Steve.

Steve hadn't woken Danny. He knew how restless he sometimes was, and every minute of decent sleep was pure gold. But the game was over, and they had a long day ahead. "Marty did quite a training session with you today, huh?"

"Mhmmm? Oh, yeah." Danny rubbed his eyes wearily. "He's a slave driver. Made me do some serious rounds. By the way, remind me to look up a guy called Brock Rumlow tomorrow."

Steve frowned. "Rumlow? Why?"

"I met this guy at the gym today, Bucky. He seems to have some domestic problems with that Brock guy. And something didn't sit right with me when he mentioned the name."

Steve's frown deepened. "I know a Brock Rumlow. He's a SEAL, I worked with him on several missions. But it can't be the same guy. Brock is one of the good guys and, besides, he's certainly not gay."

Danny shrugged. "Perhaps just a coincidence. C'mon, let's go to bed."

He got up and pulled Steve with him, leading him to the stairs and up. A good night's sleep would work miracles with his exhaustion. And falling asleep in Steve's arms was something Danny never got enough of.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I just want to say that I don’t believe in coincidence, so… 
> 
> Hope you enjoyed reading our last fic for 2018. See us in 2019, hopefully with new stories and lots of new ideas. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of you. Have a great holiday time surrounded with love and happiness.


End file.
